


The Unpredictable Letter

by Matthew_Williams (SpacePrinceLance)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Death, Fire, Love, M/M, Plot Twists, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 11:24:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2849201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpacePrinceLance/pseuds/Matthew_Williams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matthew gets a strange letter in the mail, on a Sunday? Well this is kind of strange, isn't it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Unpredictable Letter

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! This is my first time writing a uh...Would you call this a one-shot? It's a pretty long one, sorry about that! It's also my first time writing something of this intensity so please forgive me if the plot seems kind of off. u n u
> 
> I hope you guys like this, and sorry but this won't be a chaptered story, this is it!

It was Sunday, and there shouldn't have been a letter in the mailbox, but there was. Why Matthew had even come out to check the mail was beyond himself. It was almost an instinct, as though he knew there was something there. But he didn’t. How could he, when the post never arrives? Questions swirled around his head, finally drawing in a breath after several moments of near asphyxiation. 

A quick impulse was enough for the blonde to outstretch his hand and reach for the thin stationary envelope. Tempered hands smoothed over the letter, messy handwriting written clearly on the front. No stamps. Did someone put this letter in here? No...That couldn’t be. Who would think to send Matthew a letter?

His hesitation reared it’s head quickly, nearly controlling Matthew to just tear in envelope in half and throw it away. But why? What was the strange feeling rolling through his mind? Shaking his head as if it jolt away a constricting aura surrounding him, Matthew went inside his house and sat on his couch.

It was warmer, and the strange aura seemed to be gone. It was probably just the cold. After all, it had been snowing constantly for days. It was probably just a cold shiver. Inhaling steadily, Matthew turned over the envelope and carefully pried open the flap held down by a simple polar bear sticker. He pulled out the neatly folded paper and held his breath one final time as he unfolded the stationary.

Blank. It was blank. There wasn’t a single word written here. All of that tension for this? Matthew rolled his eyes and was prepared to throw the letter and the envelope in the trash, when the Canadian felt something else inside the envelope. It was cylindrical, and thin. Removing the object carefully and bringing it into full view, it seemed to be a maple leaf themed pen. Matthew’s eyes widened in terror, shock, and complete torment.

“How...How is this possible? How could this even still exist? I don’t understand…” The look on Matthew’s face was of pure agony, tears threatening to fall down his face at any moment. A small wheeze escaped his mouth, and he dropped the pen on the floor instantly. “No...No. No no no this isn’t possible. Everything was gone...It was all gone. So why…” The anxiety-ridden voice of Matthew had escalated into near hysteria, so he covered his mouth to calm himself down and look away from the terrorizing pen.

To make matters worse, a jump-startling phone call rang throughout the house which only served to make Matthew’s anxiety skyrocket for a brief moment. He breathed out slowly, kicked the pen under the table, and forced himself into the kitchen where his cell phone was to answer.  
“Hello?” Matthew answered as calmly as possible, hoping the heightened tone of his voice couldn’t be detected.

“Hey bro, how are you doing? I hope you’re doing okay. Today’s the anniversary of the fire. I know you must be hurting a lot, but I want you to know that I’m here for you. You aren’t alone, okay?” Matthew didn’t reply. How could he, with a response like that? With Alfred just mentioning the fire was enough for his breath to hitch in his throat, preventing him from saying a word.

About a year ago, Matthew had lived with his boyfriend, Gilbert. They had rented their first house together, and everything was fantastic. They both had jobs, they had a pretty house (which was rent-to-own, but pretty nonetheless), friends and family that loved them. Everything was great. However...About 4 months living in that house, something terrible happened.

Both Matthew and Gilbert had been asleep, when a crash had seemed to wake up Matthew. Gilbert was still asleep, but he didn’t want to bother him. Grabbing the ‘metal bat’ by the bedroom door, he crept carefully out the door. Matthew surveyed the area closely, double-checking there was no one within his vicinity. However, there was a strange sound coming from the kitchen. 

Matthew was on the edge of his toes at the point, slowly descending the stairs, but before he reached the bottom, he saw a mass of fiery embers and burning walls. Instantly he dropped his bat and screamed for Gilbert, who came down the stairs quicker than he ever had before. Gilbert saw it too, the entire kitchen bursting in flames.

“Mattie we have to get out of here, NOW!” Gilbert warned, reaching for Matthew’s hand, but the blonde shifted his body out of his reach.

“Hang on, I have to get something!”

“You idiot there isn’t enough time for that! We have to call the police!”

“Fine go ahead! Just let me grab one thing I promise I’ll be okay.”

“Matth-”

“Gilbert, _PLEASE_.” With an exasperated sigh, he didn’t answer Matthew and ran back upstairs to grab his phone to call the police.  
Seated neatly on the counter, there was an ornate maple leaf pen where the fire had not reached yet. Matthew hurriedly grasped at the pen, only to have an explosion knock him back. Still conscious, Matthew clutched the pen tightly in his hand, only to have the colors fade away and darkness consume his vision.

That was...The last thing Matthew remembered about the fire. Nobody ever told him what happened after he blacked out. He assumed that Gilbert had tried to save him and instead…

“Listen, Matt. I uh…” You could hear Alfred breathe a low sigh on the other end of the line. “I really miss you, you know. It’s been really hard without you around, and the gang misses you too. We really want you to come back to us.”

Silence once more. There wasn’t anything he could say to Alfred to make him feel better about his well being. There wasn’t anything Alfred could say to make Matthew feel better either. There was no clear way for him to feel better about anything. What the cause of the fire was, why he had to be stupid and go after a stupid pen, why Gilbert...No longer reached him.

“I know you won’t answer me, but I just wanted to say a few more things.” Alfred exhaled lightly, as if he was trying to find delicate words. “Please come back to us Matt. I know you’ve been through hell with the fire. Gilbert did too. But you’re so important to us. To everyone. I hope that you’ll let us carry your burden. You don’t have to go through this alone.” Alfred was silent, which signaled the end of his cheer-up speech. 

“Oh and, there’s someone who would like to talk to you.” Confused, Matthew remained silent and waited for this mystery person to come on the phone.

“Hello Matthew.” That sudden silky smooth voice nearly made Matthew drop his phone in panic-ridden doubt. What the hell is this? Was this some kind of sick joke? “Matt I uh...Hey it’s Gilbert. Al and I miss you so much...Me especially.” There was a pang of a hand slapping clothing followed by an “Ow”! “Okay okay, sorry! We both miss you equally.”

There had to be some mistake. Or, maybe he was just dreaming. He had to be dreaming, there was absolutely no possible way this was real. Or Alfred was just playing a sick joke on him for being so selfish with wanting to be alone all this time. He really didn’t know, but it hurt so much to be able to hear Gilbert’s voice again. It hurt but he loved it, he loved when Gilbert talked in his sweet voice, when he wanted to curl Matthew up in blankets and tell him how much he loved him. The voice he used when professed his love, the voice he used when he whispered ‘I love you’, the voice he used when he smiled brightly in the darkest days.

“It’s been a year since the fire. I’m still pretty pissed about it.” Gilbert said with a half-hearted chuckle. “I should’ve never let you go after that pen. I should’ve never let you out of my sight. It’s all my fault..” The optimistic tone of his suddenly faltered, giving way to a sob. “I’m so sorry Matthew everything that happened was all my fault. And now it’s too late to fix it. Everything is...broken now. Too broken to be fixed. And it’s all my god damn fault!” Gilbert was now pouring out his heart and soul into a full-out cry, and all Matthew could do was stand there, a hand covering his mouth to keep away an outburst.

“I let you down, and I am _SO_ sorry. I was careless, even though there was a fire engulfing our house.” No. No. No this was wrong. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t his fault at all! Why is he blaming himself?! Gilbert would still be alive if he hadn’t wanted that stupid god damn pen. He wasn’t worrying about Gilbert at all, just a silly stupid pen that could easily be replaced. Gilbert...Could never be replaced. Never. “I just want you to know that I’m always here, watching over you. Every single day. I love you Matthew.” A low dead tone emerged from the other end of the line. The call was over.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey Alfred, be honest…” The silky-haired albino exhaled quietly.

“Huh? What’s that buddy?” Alfred turned his head towards the albino man, jerking his arms to force his head to look at him, a video game controller clutched in his hands.

“I’ve been thinking a lot and...Do you think…” Gilbert grunted, unable to finish his sentence. Irritated, he smoothed his hair back to give himself more room to breathe.

“Do I think what? Is that about what happened earlier?” Gilbert nodded, gripping both of his arms anxiously as he paced back and forth.

“Do you think that Matthew...Will ever wake up?” This question seemed to catch Alfred by surprise, as he nearly spit out his cola.

“...I don’t know.” That’s what he thought Alfred might say. Nobody knew. Of course nobody would know. That only pissed him off even more.

“He’s been in a coma in over a year and yet...There’s been no signs of him waking up. I mean, what the fuck???” Gilbert let out the steam, growling in frustration, but worked himself to calm down. “I even...Wrote him a letter for when he wakes up. I wrote it with the pen that he saved.” Alfred glanced at Gilbert from the corner of his eye, then looked at his feet in gloom.

“That was the pen that you bought him when you first met, isn’t it?” Gilbert shuffled around the room, fingers softly gracing photos of him and Matthew.

“...Yes. For some reason, that was the only thing he wanted to save. Just that pen.”  
“Well he did, didn’t he?”

“I would’ve rather all the houses in the world burn instead of having Matthew slip into a coma.”

“I know. You and me both, dude. I’m sure that pen meant a lot to Matthew, and that’s why he had to save it.” Gilbert sighed, leaving the happy couple photos and sitting on the couch next to Alfred.

“Alfred, I know that we never really got along because you’re super protective of your brother. I’m the same with Ludwig too. I’ve been thinking that if we never got together like you wanted, then he’d still b-”

“Don’t talk like he’s dead!” Alfred suddenly yelled, which startled poor Gilbert.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to phrase it that way. I just think that if we never met then he’d be right here, with you.” Alfred scrunched his brow in annoyance, but his expression softened as he thought about what to say.

“You’d rather he be here than you two together like this now, is that what you’re saying?” Gilbert nodded, scrunching his hands together in uneasiness. “You’re stupid.” That response was not what he had expected at all.

“Huh?”

“Look, this entire time you’ve only been thinking about what YOU want. If Mattie were here, what do you think he would say?” Gilbert was silent. “He would be so upset with you, that’s what. Don’t throw away all of those memories you two have together. I know that if Matthew had the choice, he’d pick you in a heartbeat, coma or not.” He was right. He was absolutely right. This entire year he’d only been thinking of himself, never even considering what Matthew would think if he were here. 

“You have a point. I see what you’re saying. I just wish I could take it back so he didn’t have to suffer. Or at least go back to that night.”

“I understand, but wishing to change things ain’t gonna bring Matthew back. Next time you see him, let him know how much you appreciate him.”

“Yeah, I really should. I’ve only been blaming myself this entire year...I’m going to make it up to him, whether Matthew knows I’m there or not!” Alfred grinned, proud of Gilbert’s new resolution to Matthew. Before Alfred could say anything in response, his cell began ringing. 

“Ah one sec, I gotta take this.” He pulled out his phone from his jean pockets and answered it quickly. “Hello?”

“Mr. Jones? We’re going to need you to come to the hospital immediately.”


End file.
